Can You Have Elective Surgery done in Ramadan?

Question: 250902

My question is about having non-emergency surgery in Ramadan, and what it results in of not fasting for several days. Is that permissible? Please note that delaying it until after Ramadan will result in missing out on the surgery because the surgeon will be travelling, and because of my work circumstances.

Summary of answer

If it is possible to delay the elective surgery until after Ramadan without causing any hardship or difficulty, then it is not permissible for you to break the fast because of that.

Answer

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

Shaykh, ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Barrak (may Allah preserve him) said:

If delaying the surgery until after Ramadan will exacerbate the sickness , or delay recovery, resulting in hardship and trouble, or the delay will result in problems, such as if the alternative appointment is relatively far off, or will cause you to miss out on having the surgery performed by a skilled doctor, then there is nothing wrong with doing it in Ramadan, even if the surgery causes the patient to break the fast .

But if it is possible to delay it until after Ramadan without causing any hardship or difficulty, then it is not permissible for the patient to break the fast because of that, because the fast of Ramadan is obligatory , and cannot be omitted because of something that it is possible to delay.

And Allah knows best.

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